Chapter 83

When Karen got out of the shower, she went to get dressed. She pulled out a pair of comfy knit pants and went for a shirt, but grabbed one of Sidney's Reebok shirts instead. She smiled when she put it on but felt a chill and went for one of his sweatshirts too. Karen picked out her favorite one and held it up, smelling his scent on it. She could wash it 50 times in a row and there would still be a lingering smell of him of on it. After she put it on, Karen sat in the chair in the bedroom and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her.

"What did I just do?" Karen said quietly to herself as she thought back to her conversation with Sidney. "The best thing that has come into your life since forever and you couldn't just let it go. Damn, how am I going to fix this?" She stayed in the chair and thought about what she needed to do.

Meanwhile at the arena....

Sidney was getting dressed in his practice gear and a couple of the guys noticed how quiet he was. They all hit the ice for practice and Sidney's focus came into play. An hour and a half later, practice was over and Sidney was still on the ice shooting the puck around. Max was about to head off the ice when he skated back over to him.

"Ok Sid, what's wrong?"

"Who said anything was wrong?" Sidney said as he took slap shot after slap shot at the net as hard as he could.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Something happen between you and Karen?"

Sidney stopped shooting pucks at the net "something happened but I'm not sure what. I started kissing her then stopped because it was late and thought we needed to head to bed because of the game tonight. Well, I guess I chose the wrong thing to say and she just went off from there."

"What do you mean 'went off'? Like yelling at you?"

"No it was more second guessing about us being together. I told her when we were coming back from at my house for Christmas that when my family comes down after the 2nd that I would stay at Mario's until we got back from the dad's trip and they went back home. I guess after a day it settled in her head that if I couldn't tell them we were living together, it was telling myself that she wasn't the right one for me."

"Which of course is....?"

"Stupid, but I guess now that I've said it out loud I can understand what she meant. Keeping her and us away from the media is one thing, but I should be able to tell my parents that I am living with the woman I love, not keep my life with her a secret from them. Damn it Max, what did I do?"

"You didn't do anything a guy in love wouldn't do. Sid, we all see it man. They way you look at her, the way she looks at you. It's almost sickening the way you go on and on about her. She feels somewhat insecure that since you don't want to be open with your parents about you two that you'd rather find someone that they would approve of."

"I don't care if they approve of her, I know she's the right one for me."

"Then you know what you need to do. But Sid, let me ask you this...your whole life your dad has been running your hockey life. Do you really need him to run your personal life too?" Max said before skating off. Sidney stayed on the ice for a few more minutes thinking about what he said before heading off himself. He got his gear off, got a shower and headed home.

Karen was still sitting in the chair staring out the window. She couldn't believe she was stupid for basically telling Sidney that he didn't think she was right for him. Their love was perfect for them and she should have let it go, but she couldn't. Karen knew if she didn't bring it out into the open, it would have eaten at her until she said something. She was soon brought out of her thoughts when she heard a car door shut. Karen wiped her eyes and went downstairs to face whatever came at her.

As Karen walked downstairs, Sidney was walking in the door and Max was right behind him. She looked at Sidney then to Max and a smile crept onto her face.

"You know, our last fight had you bring home a dozen roses and a whole team of Penguins. This time I get no flowers and Max?" Karen looked at Max "do I get to keep this one?"

"No chance in hell Kiki" Natalie said as she came out of the kitchen "you already have one, this one's mine." She waited beside Karen as Max stepped around Sidney and enveloped Natalie into a hug.

"Sorry Karen, but I think the one you want is right in front of you" Max said before taking Natalie into the living room. Karen looked to the floor before moving her eyes up to meet Sidney's.

"Take a walk with me?" he said as he reached his hand out for her to take. Before Karen could answer, she saw her shoes being thrown from the living room at them and just missed hitting them. They both looked into the living room and at two smiling faces.

"I guess my answer is yes."

"Good call Karen. Take a walk, play in the snow, hell throw Sid in the snow while you're at it. You crazy kids have fun" Max said before Natalie pulled him down on the couch.

Karen put her shoes on and Sidney grabbed her coat. They started to walk out the door but she took a step back and peered into the living room "you two either take it to a bedroom or you are buying me a new house Max."

"What? It's not like this couch hasn't had an ass imprint in it from sex before" Natalie yelled.

Sidney and Karen couldn't help but laugh as they headed outside, but the smiles turned to an awkward silence....a silence they never experienced before. Sidney took her hand in his as they walked down the street.

"This has never happened to us" he said finally breaking the tension.

"I know. Usually when were silent like this, no words were ever needed..."

".....because we never needed to say them." Sidney stopped them and turned her so she was facing him "I never meant to imply that you weren't the one I wanted in my life. My dad has always been there judging, questioning, even ridiculing every move I made on the ice. Even now, I can't seem to make a decision without wondering what his opinion would be."

"Maybe you need his opinion because you value it."

"Maybe, but from what I heard today I don't need his opinion for this. I know what I want."

Karen felt the fear arise within her and she didn't know if she would be able to hear what he had to say to her "what do you want?"

Sidney brought his hand up and caressed her cheek "I want what I've wanted since April....you."

"But you don't know...." Karen didn't get to finish as Sidney's lips crashed down on hers for a searing kiss. He pour all his feelings for her into the kiss that made Karen's knees almost buckle under her.

Sidney released her lips, waiting for her to open her eyes "I don't need to know. I'm sure you'll tell me later but it's not going to change my feelings for you or wanting to live with you. Just tell me you understand that part."

"I do understand Sid."

"Good" he said pulling her into a hug "why don't we head home, warm up and finish talking about this. I will listen to everything you have to tell me, ok?"

"Ok. But can I say one thing before we head back?"

"You can say anything baby, what is it?"

Karen got a concerned look on her face and step away from Sidney. She looked into his eyes and saw he was scared to find out what she needed to say. "Sid, I...." she started to say before pushing him backwards into a pile of snow "hope you like the snow."

Sidney laid there and just smirked at her. Before he got up, he grabbed a handful of snow in each hand and got up, throwing it at Karen. She saw what was coming and ducked them, taking off running towards the house. She felt a hit on her back which made her stop and turn around. Karen leaned down, grabbed a huge handful and threw it at him. Sidney dodged it but ended up tackling her into a bigger snowbank.

"I don't think you have anywhere to go baby."

"But I'm getting cold" she said in a sweet voice.

"Don't even try it, you know I'll keep you warm."

"Well you're not doing a good enough job" she said with her bottom lip pouting out.

"Fine, you win baby" Sidney got up and pulled her up with her "but only because I need to go get my pregame nap in."

They walked back to the house and into a sight not meant for anyone.

"OH MY GOD, please tell me that is not Max's naked ass on my living room floor" Karen screamed seeing what appeared to be two naked bodies having sex on the floor. She turned around, putting her head on Sidney's shoulder.

"Yeah baby, that's what it appears to be" Sidney said turning around as well after getting an eyeful.

"You said there couldn't be a naked ass print on the couch, you never said anything about the floor" Max retorted to his friends.

Karen just ran upstairs speechless with Sidney following her "I am going to have to burn that room down and rebuild it."

"I don't think you need to go that far baby."

"Yeah you're right, I need to worry about the image of Max's ass that is now permanently burned into my eyes." Karen took off his sweatshirt to reveal the Reebok shirt.

"Um, you got 12 of your own shirts for Christmas, why do you have one of mine on?" Sidney asked as she crawled into bed.

"Because."

"Because why?" he said as he got into bed and pulled her close to him.

"Because I wanted to."

"Well as long as you had a good reason" Sidney looked deep into her eyes "we'll finish all this tomorrow?"

Karen just nodded and then kissed him "get some sleep stud." Sidney closed his eyes and Karen nestled into the nook. She didn't close her eyes as thoughts still plagued her mind. She knew she had to get it all out before her and Sidney could truly be happy again.